MP wants to meet with airport over flood of runway noise complaints (Not UK – but Calgary, Canada)
In late June this year a new runway at Calgary Airport, in Ontario Canada, opened. It had been in the planning for years. Calgary airport is not far from the city. Now people are finding themselves seriously overflown, and are very upset by the extent of the noise and disruption -which is greater than they had anticipated. The noise is always worst in summer, when people want to be outside, or have windows open. A Calgary MP has now met airport officials after receiving over 100 complaints from his constituents about noise, due to planes using the new runway. The MP wants there to be “dialogue” between the airport authority and nearby residents, in the hope that some solution can be found for their problems. The MP, and the affected residents, say they recognize the airport is an important economic driver for the city, but said that long-time residents deserve to be part of the conversation. The airport has to act as a “responsible corporate citizen”. There are long established communities, in existence for decades, under the new flight paths, which have never had any aircraft noise problems before. People are stunned by what started over their heads – from 6am onwards. This is exactly the same as is happening around airports in so many countries. Truly a globalised issue.
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MP wants to meet with airport over flood of runway noise complaints
Gavin Young, Calgary Herald CALGARY, AB: JUNE 28, 2014
Air Canada flight AC9, a Boeing 767 to Tokyo, Japan, was the first scheduled flight to take-off from the Calgary International Airport’s new $600 million runway on Saturday afternoon June 28, 2014.
A local member of Parliament is calling on the Calgary Airport Authority to find a solution for the noise coming from the city’s new runway, following a flood of complaints.
Deepak Obhrai, MP for Calgary East, said his office has received 100 complaints from residents in Marlborough Park, Southview and Forest Lawn since the runway opened at the end of June.
“Most of them are actually stunned because these are old established communities … and of course they’ve never had any issues at all,” said Obhrai. “All of a sudden they started having these aircraft coming in and a lot of residents said it wakes them up at 6 a.m.”
The noise is particularly problematic because people spend a lot of time outdoors in the summer, added Obhrai. He said he’s planning to meet with the Calgary Airport Authority soon.
Last week, Terry Thompson, director of environmental services for the Airport Authority, said the group was following up on residents’ concerns and looking at ways to mitigate the noise. Obhrai suggested looking at how other jurisdictions have dealt with the problem.
“We do understand the need for the (runway), it’s a benefit to Calgary, but at the same time you cannot have angry citizens,” he said.
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MP urges airport to address noise complaints from new runway
The Calgary airport has received numerous noise complaints from northeast residents since its new runway opened June 28.
Photograph by: Gavin Young Gavin Young , Calgary Herald
A Calgary MP met with airport officials Wednesday after receiving numerous complaints from his constituents about noise from the city’s new runway.
Calgary East MP Deepak Obhrai said he’s gotten more than 100 complaints since the runway opened in late June. He spoke to members of the Calgary Airport Authority to pass on his constituents’ concerns and encourage “dialogue” between the airport authority and nearby residents.
He said he recognizes the airport is an important economic driver for the city, but said that longtime residents deserve to be part of the conversation.
“I pointed out to them that while we support the airport expansion, it is important that they act as responsible corporate citizens,” Obhrai said in a news release.
Ward 3 Councillor Jim Stevenson said he’s also received complaints from residents of Skyview Ranch about the runway traffic.
“We’ve heard from a number of people who feel the planes are turning too quickly to the east and therefore going over their homes,” Stevenson said.
Obhrai said the airport authority pledged to “expedite” dialogue with affected communities to find a solution to the complaints.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/urges+airport+address+noise+complaints+from+runway/10036186/story.html
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Drowned out (letter)
Re: “Noise levels soar,” Letter, July 7.
Like Peter and Justina Penner, we also are happy for YYC’s advancement with a new runway and appreciate the tunnel use to the airport. We never expected that planes would take offfrom the new runway veering left flying directly over our house in the Rundle/Sunridge area. We cannot carry on conversations while enjoying our yard in this lovely summer weather we’re finally experiencing. Planes seem to fly every minute. We were on the phone outside and had to stop talking (long distance) every minute so we could hear each other.
We have been in the same house since 1977, which is now losing value. The airplanes are getting larger, and noise is unbearable. We acknowledge the airport was here when we built in this area, but never expected this runway putting us in conflict. Why can’t planes fly south over Deerfoot Trail and industrial areas? A north/south runway route should not come over residential Rundle. Never mind the noise levels being monitored on vehicles, etc., but this is ridiculous!
Help! Something definitely must be done to remedy this situation, and soon.
Garry and Annette Padley
Calgary
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Drowned/10019856/story.html
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Wikipedia says of Calgary airport:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calgary_International_Airport
Calgary International Airport, originally named McCall Field (IATA: YYC, ICAO: CYYC), is the international airport that serves Calgary, Alberta, Canada and the surrounding region; it is situated approximately 17 km (11 mi) northeast ofdowntown Calgary. The airport offers scheduled non-stop flights to major cities in Canada, the United States, Mexico, theCaribbean, Europe and East Asia.
Calgary International Airport serves as headquarters for WestJet and as a hub airport for Air Canada and Air Canada Express. The airport is one of eight Canadian airports with US Border Preclearance facilities. The airport is operated by The Calgary Airport Authority as part of Transport Canada‘s National Airports System. It is Canada’s third busiest airport by passenger traffic and by aircraft movements, handling 14,316,074 passengers[5] in 2013 and 240,709 movements in 2012.[4] In October 2008, The Calgary Airport Authority was named one of Alberta’s Top Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc.[6][7] YYC has both the longest runway and the tallest control tower in Canada.
| Number of Passengers (2013) | 14,316,074 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Aircraft movements (2012) | 240,709 | ||
| Sources: Canada Flight Supplement Environment Canada | |||
A new runway numbered 17L/35R became operational in 2014. It is 14,000 ft × 200 ft (4,267 m × 61 m), which according to the airport’s website is the longest runway in Canada. A tunnel running underneath the new runway will connect Airport Trail with Métis Trail NE. Barlow Trail closed on 3 April 2011.
The long runway length can be attributed to the relatively high elevation, previously 3,557 ft (1,084 m) and now 3,606 ft (1,099 m), of the airport and the need to support the largest passenger aircraft types. Aircraft require more distance to take off at higher elevations, because of the reduced air density associated with altitude.
In addition to the current runways in operation the airport has had two runways decommissioned over the years. Runway 02/20 was closed and part of it is still open as taxiway V. Runway 11/29 was decommissioned and ran where Palmer Road is now situated. The remnants of the runways and associated taxi ways are in various states of decay but can still be seen at the airport. 07/25 (now 08/26) served as the main east west runway until 10/28 (now 11/29) was built. The taxiway to 25 was closed when 02/20 was decommissioned meaning aircraft had to backtrack the length of the runway.
Three runways were upgraded: Runway 16/34 (now 17R/35L) was extended from its original length of 6,410 to 12,675 ft (1,954 to 3,863 m) and both 07/25 (now 08/26) and 16/34 (now 17R/35L) were widened from 150 to 200 feet (46 to 61 m) to accommodate wider aircraft.